Nicole Marie Pittmon is a noted event planning professional. She is the founder of Nicole Marie Events where she creates the perfect event tailored to perfection for every client’s needs. Her client list is as extensive as it is impressive, including popular artists, influencers, state officials, chefs, and non-profits. She recently curated a Huggies® event celebrating Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent’s new baby Oskar, surrounding the Made by You Collection of personalized diapers. The aesthetic genius shares the hottest gift and party planning trends for this baby gifting season.

What is Nicole Marie Events?

I have been in the event industry for a little over a decade. I plan primarily corporate social events and a lot of my clientele are celebrities [and] politicians. I am based in Chicago, but I do travel depending on the client and event needs.

What are the “5 Fs” for planning a baby celebration?

Those are my five go to [pointers] whenever you’re looking to have an amazing event.

Food: Creating food that is really easy, obtainable and can be enjoyed by all. If you’re someone who doesn’t know how to boil a pot of water or you’re a chef who creates eight-course meals every night, find something in the middle. You want it to be comfortable, relaxing and easy to do.

Favors: It’s important to have a favor that can be practical and can be enjoyed. I’m all about creating favors that can be edible, a personalized cookie for example that can be the dessert, the décor and the favor all in one.

Fun: You want to create an environment of games that are unique and allow all the guests to interact.

Finesse: When putting everything together, you want to create an energy and make sure your space is special and personalized for those who you are planning the shower for.

Focal Point: Last but not least, is a focal point. Every place and every venue you have has a really creative and eye-catching detail. This can be used as your center to tell your story for the event.

Tell us about Huggies Made by You.

This is one of the reasons I ended up in New York. I am partnering with Huggies to help sponsor their Made by You personalized diaper collection. There are five collections of personalized diapers in the Made by You collection. I share my insight on how to create a baby shower out of these collections. So, each collection has a theme and they are Bright World, Sweet Safari, Pattern Party, Mediterranean Mamma and Little Hero. I was able to launch these collections for the first ever personalized diaper.

Huggies Made by You Collection (Photo Credit: Huggies)

Tell me the hottest trends in baby gifting this season.

The hottest trend when going into baby shower season from a mom perspective is all about the diaper. A personalized diaper is an ultimate gift. The great thing about Huggies Made by You and its five designs is that you can take this diaper and incorporate it into your shower. It is the cross between personal and practical and that’s an awesome trending gift.

What are your tips for how to make high-end attainable?

I would definitely say personalization is key. I was mentioning before about to cookies and making that a part of the décor. What I did with the diaper collection, was take the pattern of each diaper and had a vendor type out the pattern and their names.

That is something easy, attainable and cost-efficient, and has that wow factor. Then, it ties into the overarching theme. Huggies Made by You collection has already set the tone and is giving you ideas to pull from with styling and planning your shower.

What have you learned after nearly a decade in party planning?

I’ve learned that nothing goes as planned, so always go with the flow. Don’t stress it. People always say have a plan B, C, D, E, F, G, but if it doesn’t work, nobody knows. I also think it’s so important that you really listen and stay in tune with what your client, friend or family member really wants. Research, there are so many avenues out there that give you the inspiration to figure out what other people are doing and make it personal to you or for whomever the event is planned.